Fast and Fresh 4 x 4-foot Pizza Garden

For families who love pizza, why not grow your own fresh ingredients? This garden has them all.

Pizza tops everyone’s list as a favorite food. Why not have the fresh ingredients in your garden? You can make a healthy pizza faster than delivery! This planting plan includes a mix of Italian herbs along with peppers and Roma tomatoes, the best variety for making pizza sauce.

If you want to expand your garden, place two 4 x 4 beds symmetrical on either side of a 3 to 4-foot path, wide enough for you and your tools. Try a Mediterranean Garden, Easy Summer Garden, or Pepper Garden for the second bed.

Planting the 4 x 4-foot Bed

Take inspiration from these planting options. The plan allows for some interpretation depending on your taste. These plants are pictured small to make the illustration simpler, but your bed will be spilling over as the plants grow! Following spacing on the plant labels, adding a few more plants than we have pictured if the spacing allows.

I have had a problem trying to grow thyme in south florida. I purchase the plant at Home Depot and within a week or two, its dead. I’ve done it over, and over, again. Maybe I’m over watering. Can you give me some advice. I have also tried to grow them inside my home, same problem :(.

I’m sorry to hear about your thyme plants! In Zone 10 where you live, thyme is considered an annual rather than a perennial, because your heat and humidity usually zap it in summer. Thyme likes slightly-alkaline, very well-drained soil. It is very susceptible to root rot and does not like too much water or humidity, so overwatering could definitely be a factor. In the ground, mulching with pebbles or planting in a rock garden can help. If growing in containers, use a clay container that dries out quickly and light potting soil. Definitely don’t use soil containing moisture-retention polymers. It’s important to keep thyme roots dry to prevent rot and fungus.

Read our Growing Thyme article to learn more. If you still have questions, use our Ask an Expert service to get expert help with your thyme problem. If you have a photo of the plant that recently died, send that in to Ask an Expert to give the expert even more info.

thyme in broward county zone 10. I have had better luck planting thyme as filler or ground cover in my container plants … the container plants are 3-4 feet higher off the ground so easy to tend to … because they are container plants the water does drain rather well with great air circulation … even in winter where it gets cooler as long as i keep my containers watered they do fine as well. so my thyme lasts about 1-2 yrs longer than usual.

will the banana pepper and bell pepper not cross polinate to make a weird kind of pepper in this arrangement? My mom tried to grow several different kinds last year and they all turned out strange. some looked like banana, but were so hot we couldn’t eat them, and the bell peppers were big, but took on the banana pepper shape, so they looked more like serranos.

Hi Beth,
Sounds a little wacky and fun. Interestingly, the peppers will not affect one another. Pepper flowers are self fertile. Let’s say that the two did cross-pollinate, it still should not affect the fruit. Only if the seed were saved and used the next year from one of the fruits would there be any effect. Now, there are hot banana peppers and mild banana peppers, and so many different shapes and heat levels to choose from. Look out our list of peppers to see the wide variety and learn more about them: http://bonnieplants.com/products/vegetables/peppers Happy gardening this year! ~Mary Beth, Bonnie Plants

Marconi Peppers in broward county south florida zone 10. These tend to take on the long banana shape yet taste more like bell peppers. easy to grow , needs to stakes or cages occassionally to keep the wind from blowing over… this is probably the only pepper i will ever grow here since success rate is 100% for me. seeds are viable from fruit. so use them. Color is green although i have seen them turn red..